"Do I Have To?"

BRRRRRRINNNNNG!!!!!! The alarm clock is rather rude early in the morning. I was quite comfortable in my slumber dreaming of a delicious steak dinner at Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. I bemoan the fact that I must get up and face reality. I slowly rise, scratch my chest, and head to the bathroom. I stare into the mirror and say “Ouch! I gotta look at that mug again?” I get ready and face the day. It may not be pretty but it’s got to be done. I can’t just skirt my responsibilities; after all, the bill collectors don’t look so kindly on non-payment. However, as Christians we don’t seem to have this same duteous attitude with regard to spiritual things, especially things one doesn’t like doing. Nonetheless, in a day when spiritual lethargy is so prevalent, the duty to help reform the modern church is one we shouldn’t forgo.

Sometimes great change can come from the most unlikely of places. Take one of the most important leaders of the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin. Here was a man that was sickly, soft-spoken, and would just as soon have led a life of reading and quiet study. But he was called to be a leader who would guide the city of Geneva out of spiritual darkness. Calvin was once exiled from Geneva and often treated with unwarranted contempt during various periods there. Each time it looked as is as if Calvin would be relieved of his duty to help reform, God placed him back in the heat of spiritual battle.

As in Calvin’s time, we once again live in a day where there is a dire need for reform in the church. A new threat has arisen. Francis Schaffer called it our own “personal peace and affluence”. This has resulted in the wide spread neglect of doctrine and the dominance of spiritual relativism, all in the name of peace. If one stands on the principle of Sola Scriptura (that Scripture alone is the standard by which we live our lives), he will be dismissed as irrelevant and outdated, a dinosaur. There’s no place for his kind. This culture has spoken Ex Cathedra, from the throne. It is settled.

Despite this threat, we look in the spiritual mirror, put our hands on our head, and say, “Ughhhhh! I’m going back to bed!” But we don’t have that luxury. We don’t shun our other responsibilities. What makes us think that we can shun this far more important responsibility? No. We are called to be steadfast in the truth and not buckle. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:14-20:

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak"

While we may not have the intellectual talent of John Calvin or the combative personality of Martin Luther, we are called to be the voice of spiritual reform wherever we are. That starts with you and me in our own little Genevas and Wittenbergs. Whenever we come against spiritual falsehood, let us look into the eye of the enemy and shout, “Freedom!” Wait… I’m getting Luther mixed up with William Wallace. Nope. Let’s see…Oh, I now remember, “Here I Stand, I can do no other, God help me amen!” There…that’s it!

- Jordan McGehee